


Somebody to Love

by addledwalrus



Series: Wasted Youth [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: 1960s, 1960s Music, Bathing/Washing, Break Up, Children, Complete, Dating, Drama & Romance, Dreams and Nightmares, F/M, Falling In Love, Family Issues, Female Friendship, Flashbacks, Flirting, Getting Back Together, Higher Education, Historical References, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Infidelity, Inspired by Music, Jealousy, Love at First Sight, Musical References, Original Character(s), Originally Posted Elsewhere, Sad Ending, Secret Relationship, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, Teenage Rebellion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-06-09 01:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 4,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6882703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/addledwalrus/pseuds/addledwalrus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young man and woman deal with relationship issues in the 1960s.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This story is an indirect sequel to 'In the Still of the Night', set twelve to thirteen years after the events of 1955 and following some of the same characters, now much older. I hope you enjoy this prologue.
> 
> The title comes from the song by Jefferson Airplane.

A man and woman sat beside each other in their car at the local drive-in, trying to enjoy the film playing on the big screen in front of them. The sound of screeching cars and gunshots made them grow tense. The woman grabbed for the man's hand instinctively and he pulled his arm away before looking at her in surprise. She ignored his reaction and returned to her usual calm demeanor once the action scene ended and gave way to quiet conversation.

"How do you like the movie so far?" The man asked her after waiting patiently for a break in the actors' lines.

"Not bad. Could do with less violence though..." She replied without breaking focus. "I don't understand filmmakers these days-"

The woman abruptly paused in the middle of her sentence and turned to look out of the window at the car parked to their right. Two loud moans sounded in unison from the other vehicle, drowning out whatever the characters on screen were saying to each other. She turned back to the man with a look of disgust on her face.

"Roger, do you think you could tell the people in that car to keep it down? I can't concentrate when they're making such a racket..."

"Sure, honey..." The man answered, only just noticing the voices drifting through the air. He reluctantly hopped out of the driver's seat and closed the door behind him. As he slowly made his way to the other car, he was well aware of how much he would have preferred to tell his wife to simply ignore the noise. However, today happened to be her birthday and he'd promised months before that they would do something special together. It was important that he made sure everything went according to his wife's wishes, no matter how much he wished to do the opposite.

And so it was that he found himself knocking on the window of a complete stranger and praying that he wouldn't see anything too obscene. It came as a relief when a young man sat up looking rather disheveled, but fully clothed as far as he could see.

"I-I'm sorry sir...we didn't mean to disturb you..." The young man apologized in embarrassment, giving a quick glance at the girl still lying down behind him.

"That's alright, son." Roger said reassuringly, feeling relieved that the young man didn't seem to be one of the aggressive types he'd encountered in the past. "Just keep it down, okay? My wife is pretty sensitive to noise."

"Sure, we'll do that..."

"Thank you."

Roger returned to his car and sat back down next to his wife. They watched the rest of the movie in peace and she smiled at him in gratitude once it was over, unaware that the young couple had long since driven away.


	2. Light My Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aside from the title, most of the chapters in this story will also be named after songs from the 1960s.

"Well, that was embarrassing..." Patricia muttered, as her boyfriend Tony parked the car near the dormitory he was staying in and turned off the ignition.

"Embarrassing? You came on to me first." Tony replied defensively, turning to his girlfriend with a stern look on his face. She stared back at him in uncertainty.

"You didn't have to return the favor." She replied with a shrug, before quickly reaching for the door handle so that she could get out.

"I couldn't help myself, you're too hard to resist."

Patricia paused and shifted her hand away from the door when she heard her boyfriend's words. A smile spread across her face before she could even attempt to hold her emotions in and she blurted out the most logical response she could think of.

"Well, so are you." She said with a laugh, letting him wrap his arm around her shoulder and pull her close.

They sat together like that for several minutes, keeping each other warm until Patricia noticed how late it was.

"We really should get going now. It's almost time for curfew."

"I guess you're right..." Tony sighed, feeling disappointed that his girlfriend was already about to leave after spending such a short time with him. He followed her out of the car and watched as she slowly made her way through the darkness alone.

_Alone._

"Wait!" He yelled in her direction before she could get too far. She spun around immediately.

"What is it?" She asked, taking a couple of steps back towards him before stopping.

"Your place is pretty far away. The doors will be locked before you even get there."

She took several more steps until she was standing face to face with him.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Then what do you suggest I do?"

"You could always spend the night in my room. We can even finish what we started."

"This was your plan all along, wasn't it?" She teased, giving him a playful slap on the shoulder. "Not that I'd object..."

"So my place, it is then?"

"Sure. Why not?" Patricia finally gave in. She linked hands with Tony and as they entered the building together, she hoped that no one would be bothered by her presence.

* * *

Tony woke up the following morning to find himself alone in bed. He feared for a moment that the previous night had been nothing more than a pleasant dream, before the sight of Patricia emerging from the bathroom filled him with relief.

"I just thought I'd use your shower. I hope that's alright with you." She explained while using a towel to dry her long brown hair .

"No, it's fine." Tony muttered wearily as he sat up to get a better look at his girlfriend.

He spied his clothes lying in a messy pile not far from where she stood and hurried out of bed so that he could retrieve them. He gathered up his clothes and reminded himself to have them washed later. In the meantime, he too felt the need to cleanse himself after what he had just done.

Patricia left quickly while he was choosing a shirt and pants to wear. He barely heard the reason she'd given for being in such a rush, but he assumed that she simply needed to attend an early class, as was the norm in college.

He found himself missing her touch just minutes after she was gone and as he felt the warm water pour down over his body, he thought back to the night when they'd first met.


	3. Happy Together

Tony had always thought of himself as the studious type and would much rather have spent the night alone reading a book instead of being at a party that some classmates had pressured him into attending. He nevertheless made an effort to look as if he was enjoying himself, while his roommate Don introduced him to some female friends in an attempt to help him get laid.

Most of the girls were too loud and crude for his liking and he declined all of them, so that he could sit alone and have a drink to calm himself down.

He guessed it was about two hours into the party that he saw her enter the room, at which the whole atmosphere seemed to change instantly as a result of her presence. He could tell just from the look in her eyes and the way she carried herself that she wasn't like any of the other girls.

She sat down in the empty chair beside him and he realized it was no coincidence when she turned to him and asked for his name. He wasted no time in telling her as he was overcome with bliss, a feeling that he hadn't experienced since the day he'd seen a beautiful woman for the first time.

* * *

They discussed each others' favorite music as the party wore on and he learned that she was fond of the Beatles, the Doors and a few other bands that he'd never heard of. In turn, he found himself confessing that he still enjoyed listening to old Elvis Presley records, despite the so called King of Rock and Roll no longer being as popular as he was in the past.

He half expected her to mock him for his backwards taste in music, but she simply nodded in understanding before changing the subject to when and how they would meet again in the future.

After making plans with her, he left the party with Don feeling as if his life finally had a purpose after years of banality.

Thoughts of her plagued his mind for the rest of the night, rendering him unable to sleep and silently praying for morning to come as soon as possible.


	4. Suspicion

"You two had a really wild time last night, didn't you?" Don asked as he entered the room to see Tony remaking the bed in a hurry.

Tony looked up at his roommate and wasn't sure what to say. Fortunately, the other young man sensed his discomfort and rephrased the question.

"I mean, how was the movie? Was it great?"

"Bonnie and Clyde?" Tony said sheepishly with a smile. "Well, there was plenty of action and romance, but I'm sure you know how it ends."

"I really don't..." Don replied in confusion. Tony stared at him in disbelief over the fact that he apparently had no idea about the ending of such a famous story, before deciding to make things brief.

"They get gunned down by the police, just like in real life."

"I know that. I just thought things would be a little different in the movies..."

Tony shrugged and went back to tidying the bed while Don sat down at the other side of the room. He resumed speaking to Tony after a short silence.

"By the way, I found _this_ when I was in the hallway." He announced, taking a wallet from his lap and placing it on the nearby table. "Your girl must have been in a pretty big hurry."

Tony turned to see that the wallet did indeed look just like the one Patricia owned and he approached the table in curiosity. He picked up the wallet to find cash and a few cards as expected, though it was the small photograph tucked in between five dollar notes that caught his interest.

He pulled the picture out of the wallet and held it in the light to get a clear view of it's subject. A handsome young man with fair hair and blue eyes smiled back at him, and he began to ponder just who the person in the photo was.

If not for the fact that he had known Patricia for almost a year, he would have assumed the man was either her brother or her lover. However, since he happened to be dating her at the moment and she had told him countless times that she was an only child, he found himself perplexed over the man's possible identity.

He slipped the photo back into it's place with a sigh and realized it would be much easier to ask Patricia herself after he had returned the wallet. Hopefully, she would give him an honest answer and clear any suspicions he had.


	5. Through the Grapevine

Tony stopped by Patricia's room to return the wallet as soon as classes had ended for the afternoon. He felt a pang of dread as he knocked on the door and waited for her to answer.

The door creaked open and to his dismay, he found himself standing face to face with her friend, a shy blonde by the name of Ingrid. She stared at him for a few seconds before a sense of recognition arose in her eyes.

"You're Tony, right? What are you doing here?"

"Where's Patricia?"

"Her? She's gone out."

"Without this?" He countered as he presented the wallet to Ingrid. She began to laugh nervously, which only fueled his suspicion.

"H-he said that he would pay for everything..." She stammered before immediately regretting her choice of words. "I'm sorry, that's not really what happened..."

"Just tell me the truth. I have a right to know." Tony said firmly while trying his hardest not to lose his composure.

"A-alright...come in first..."

Tony did as she said and followed her into the dormitory. She crept behind him and closed the door before taking a seat. It wasn't until she had managed to calm herself down and was feeling comfortable that she began to speak with surprising clarity.

"You're not the only boy she's seeing. There's someone else, his name's Charlie..."

* * *

Tony left the dormitory an hour later in grief. He exchanged a final glance with Ingrid as she stood in the doorway before descending the stairs, while being able to hear his own heart thumping loudly like a drum.

He had suspected something dishonest was going on the moment he'd looked into Patricia's wallet, but it was having his fears confirmed by a third person that filled him with a feeling of inadequacy.

The picture of the other young man haunted him all the way back to his own room and he wondered if the whole time he'd been with Patricia, she'd secretly been dreaming of someone else.


	6. Whiter Shade of Pale

The first difference Patricia noticed in her world as the college year slowly ended was a change in the way Ingrid behaved. It was as if the blonde had experienced some sort of enlightenment overnight and found a previously untapped well of confidence, evident in the way she held her head up when she walked and now sat at the front of the room whenever she could.

When she thought hard about it, Patricia found that she could trace the change back to the time Ingrid claimed to have found the wallet lying by the couch, returning it afterwards and blushing as if she were hiding a secret.

The second thing Patricia noticed was that whenever she tried to visit Tony, he was either too busy to see her or out doing something important. She began to fear the worst after a month had passed without ever hearing him speak to her.

Her attempts to find out more from Don proved to be fruitless and she eventually resigned herself in guilt to the logical explanation that Tony had somehow learned of her dates with Charlie and decided he didn't want a part of her any longer.

As Christmas vacation approached, Patricia briefly considered the possibility of spending it with Ingrid's family instead of with her parents. She soon realized however that she would have to face them sooner or later if she wanted to overcome her dilemma, so she reluctantly gave them a phone call while trying her best to sound cheerful and relaxed.

* * *

"Darling, I thought I told you to watch your figure. Your tummy's starting to stick out..."

Patricia resisted the urge to utter a bitter retort while her mother forced her into the dress she was supposed to wear to the Christmas party Charlie's parents had organized.

Once the older woman was out of the room, Patricia took one last look in the mirror and felt around her chest to find that her ribs jutted out no less than they had before. She sighed and convinced herself that her mother was simply being paranoid and imagining any possible weight gain.

Her thoughts of reassurance were cut short by the sound of her father calling from the hallway for her to hurry up. She anxiously followed his bidding, running out to the front door where he waited alongside her mother.

* * *

A feeling of nausea grew in Patricia's stomach as she stared at all of the food on the table and despite her initial efforts to ignore her own unease, a splitting headache soon served to make her condition worse.

Before she knew it, her vision was blurring and turning everything she saw into a patchwork of bright colors while the voices of those around her faded into an incomprehensible buzz.

Nevertheless, she continued to sit in her chair and tried to discern all of the strange shapes and noises until her body was unable to handle the pressure any longer. She toppled out of her seat and only realized she was falling when she felt her head collide against the hard wooden floor.

Her senses cleared immediately afterwards, allowing her to see the bright lights on the overhanging chandelier and hear Charlie by her side asking if she was alright.


	7. Lady Madonna

Tony thrust his shovel down into the snow and scooped up a large pile before dumping it to the side of the driveway. His breath came out in heavy puffs and as he felt sweat form on his back, he knew there were many more relaxing ways he could spend the day right after Christmas.

Nevertheless, he forced himself to continue what he was doing, as the task filled him with an odd sense of satisfaction. He became determined not to stop until his neighbor's driveway was completely clear, despite his strained arms and growing exhaustion.

His focus was broken when a familiar voice loudly called out to him. He turned to face his neighbor with anger in his eyes.

"Tony, don't you think you're pushing yourself too hard? Why don't you have a rest?" The woman asked in concern as she approached him warily.

"I'm fine, Betty..." Tony said with a tired sigh, finding that it was impossible to retain any ill feelings towards the lady he'd been infatuated with for much of his childhood.

"No, you're not. You look like you're about to drop dead..." Betty insisted as she reached out and held on to his arm. "Come inside. I can't have you collapsing in the front yard."

Tony reluctantly followed her into the house upon realizing she was simply showing concern for his well-being. She led him into the dining room, where he sat down next to a little girl and a baby, both of whom began to gaze at him in curiosity.

"Here, I've made you some tea. Drink up."

Betty set the steaming cup down before him and he carefully took a sip. The two young children continued to stare and he had to remind himself that he was once just the same. A feeling of amusement grew as he remembered the night he'd seen Betty for the first time and let his childish impulses get the better of him.

He fondly thought about how his parents would joke about that certain incident for years to come just to embarrass her, only laying it to rest around the time he started high school.

The pleasant memory quickly faded into a feeling of sadness at how much his world had changed in just a couple of years. He wanted to tell Betty about everything that was bothering him so that he could feel at ease again, but he eventually decided to keep it to himself a little longer, knowing that it would be selfish to put himself first when she was obviously experiencing her own share of troubles.

He finished his cup of tea and thanked Betty for her hospitality, before walking back outside into the snow. As he made his way home, he wondered how she was still able to support herself and her children, when her husband was in another city and her brother James had apparently gone missing in Vietnam.


	8. Crying

Ingrid curled up on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate and a book by Nabokov in the hope of enjoying a quiet evening to herself. Her parents had left an hour before to visit her grandmother in the hospital and entrusted the house to her in their absence.

She was well into the first chapter of the novel and picturing the story vividly in her mind, when a deafening knock on the front door caused her to drop the book in shock. She stood up and crept fearfully to the nearest window, pulling the curtain back slightly and straining her eyes to get a glimpse of what was outside.

All she saw was darkness and snow, so she let the curtain drop and retrieved her book from the floor. She was just about to retire upstairs to the safety of her bedroom when she heard a muffled but familiar voice call out loudly and desperately from outside.

Ingrid recognized who it was and warily made her way back to the front door. She unlocked it hesitantly to see Patricia standing cold and alone in the snow with her teeth chattering and the color gone from her lips.

Not being one to leave a friend outside to freeze, Ingrid didn't waste any time inviting the other girl inside and making some more hot chocolate to warm her up.

Patricia refused the drink however and simply sat herself down, staring vacantly into space until tears welled in her eyes. She lowered her head and let her emotions overwhelm her as she began to cry uncontrollably. Ingrid tried her best to help, sitting down beside her friend and talking softly in the hope of coaxing Patricia into revealing the cause of her despair.

The two girls continued to sit where they were for what seemed like hours before Patricia finally began to speak. Ingrid was unable to make out everything through her friend's faltering voice, but she heard enough to piece together a story about breaking up with Charlie and being taken to the doctor for a shocking discovery.

The final thing Patricia admitted that night awoke a protective urge in Ingrid and out of sympathy, the blonde vowed to be there for her friend should she ever feel as if nobody wanted her.


	9. The End, Part One

The young man wandered alone through the cemetery, concentrating only on the wet grass and the blue sky while remaining oblivious to the countless graves around him.

He came to an abrupt stop beside one tiny headstone tucked away at the back of the cemetery and snapped out of his trance, before kneeling down on the ground to read what was engraved.

_In memory of Patricia Beaumont,_

_1948 - 1967_

_Heaven has been blessed with another angel._

* * *

Tony awoke with a start and felt unusually cold as he glanced around in the darkness, convincing himself that there was no way his dream could possibly be reality.

Yet the thought of Patricia dying and leaving him behind was difficult to accept, and he realized that while he may not have been the right boy for her, he could have at least stayed around as a friend, for she had been one of the few people he still felt comfortable talking to about his problems.

 _"I hope it's not too late to set things right..."_ He silently hoped as he got up from the living room couch that he had been relegated to ever since his parents had loaned his room to his sister's fiance.

He switched the light on as he entered the kitchen and saw from the hands on the clock that it was only a few minutes past four in the morning. Even so, he didn't think he could go back to sleep after the dream he'd had.

He headed upstairs to where the rest of his family slumbered and it occurred to him how easy it would be to take a knife and kill them all while they slept.

The thought of committing such a crime shocked him and he wanted to hit himself for dreaming of such a thing. He decided out of paranoia that it was best to distance himself from his family as soon as possible, so he hurriedly washed and got dressed before rushing downstairs to grab his bags.

He assumed that it would at least save his parents some trouble as he headed out the door and planned to take the early bus back to college.

* * *

Mrs Caruso put on her dress and her makeup while her husband, daughter and future son-in-law continued to sleep. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror and descended the stairs in high spirits, only for her mood to fall when she found that the kitchen light had been turned on.

She decided to pay a quick visit to the living room to see if her son Tony was alright. It had been her husband's idea to make him sleep on the couch and while she had argued against it, the boy had eventually chosen to follow his father's plans.

 _"He really is too kind for his own good..."_ She thought to herself, before letting out a gasp of horror when she realized that her son was nowhere to be seen.


	10. The End, Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It shouldn't be too hard to figure out what Patricia and Tony are about to go through, if you've read all of the previous chapters.

Tony tried his best to temporarily forget the past and focus solely on the present during class, but was ultimately unsuccessful in his efforts. In the end, he found himself unable to concentrate or recall anything that the professor was saying to his own disappointment.

He returned to his dormitory once the class was over to find that Don was absent. He assumed that his roommate was either studying somewhere or out trying to pick up girls as he took a chair for himself. He sat down to think hard about what he would do to redeem himself in Patricia's eyes, before he remembered that she was the one who had cheated and not him.

He decided to do some study for the time being, in the hope that it would refresh his mind in some way and give him a different perspective on how things were.

A knock on the door interrupted his reading about dealing with behavioral issues in children and he pushed his book aside so that he could find out who was there.

He unlocked the door to see Ingrid staring right at him with large blue eyes.

"I'm glad you're here. There's something Patricia and I need to tell you." She said urgently before Tony had time to ask her why she was there.

"Tell me about what?"

Ingrid didn't answer, instead turning around and beckoning for Patricia to come out from where she was hiding. Tony felt a pang of guilt as he watched his former girlfriend approaching, but he couldn't figure out why.

Tony sat opposite Patricia at the table while Ingrid stood by the door, ready to intervene if either of them were unable to cope with the news that was about to be imparted.

Patricia began to speak to Tony about all that had happened to her over the past month and as she came closer to revealing the secret she was so afraid of letting him know, she hesitated and found that she could not go on.

An encouraging look from Ingrid renewed her will and she forced the dreaded words out of her mouth, before the pressure finally proved to be too much and the tears started to flow from her eyes.

The sound of her crying haunted Tony as the meaning of his past premonitions finally came to light. He glanced around the room hoping to find some kind of external solution, even though he knew full well that the crisis could only be resolved if he stayed with Patricia and supported her to the best of his ability.

One question still terrified him however, and that was whether he was truly ready to deal with such a large responsibility.

As he took Patricia in his arms and futilely tried to reassure her that all would be well, his reason screamed out to him that the answer to his question was a negative one.


End file.
